1 Topic by meep

  • meep
  • Member
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  • Registered: 2009-05-22
  • Posts: 1

Topic: SQLite vs MySQL or PostgreSQL

I currently have a FluxBB 1.2.21 installation using SQLite.
When setting up the forums, I did not have access to MySQL or PostgreSQL databases. However, now I do.

My first question is is it worth switching over?
I know that SQLite can suffer from write starvation if too many users are accessing the forums.
Basically, what are the pros/cons of using the various databases for FluxBB?

Form what I can tell:
SQLite is "self-contained" so there are less places things can go wrong, but it cannot write if there is always something locking the database reading.
MySQL/PostgreSQL does not suffer from that problem?
Also I want to balance the administration complexity, and I feel that MySQL/PostgreSQL may be slightly more complicated.
While I can probably handle them, I want to unsure that the people after me can run the forums easily. In fact, that was one of the reasons I chose FluxBB.

Then there is the speed issue. Currently I've only invited a few users to test it out and it isnt that busy yet. It doesn't seem too slow, but its isn't all that snappy either (this may just be the server itself? Or is this from SQLite?). I expect a fair amount of additional users once I officially announce it to our club, and I'd like to pick a final DB before I do this.
So would my choice of DB affect the speed significantly? If so, how? And which one is "best"?

Since I'm not a database wizard, and I don't really have much experience running a forum so I seek your collective expertise.

My second question would be how do I convert it?
I would assume I need to just change settings in config.php and move the database by dumping it to an SQL file and then importing that into the other database.

But I guess I'll cross that bridge when I come to it. First I'd like to make an informed decision about what database to be using.

Thanks for any help you can give me and sorry if this is a lot of questions!

Last edited by meep (2009-05-23 06:24:53)

2 Reply by elbekko

  • From: Leuven, Belgium
  • Registered: 2008-04-30
  • Posts: 1,131

Re: SQLite vs MySQL or PostgreSQL

My preference goes out to MySQL with transactions, but since that's only supported in 1.3 and 1.4, that isn't an option (yet).

But yes, I'd certainly recommend stepping away from SQLite. MySQL or PgSQL aren't really that different performance-wise, but most of FluxBB has been written with MySQL in mind, and so have most modifications.

As for converting, I've never done it myself, but I fear there may be some incompatibilities between database dumps. The easiest solution is probably installing 1.2 using MySQL, and then importing the data from SQLite using an SQL dump.

Ben
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